


Thunderstorm

by aventurine_geode



Category: Powers (TV)
Genre: Boundaries, F/M, Older Man/Younger Woman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-12
Updated: 2015-07-12
Packaged: 2018-04-09 00:27:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4326891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aventurine_geode/pseuds/aventurine_geode
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johnny and Calista have an important conversation about consent.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thunderstorm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [virtueofvice](https://archiveofourown.org/users/virtueofvice/gifts).



In her dreams she stalked the night like a wolf, swift and purposeful. Her form was lean and her vision sharp, her goals immediately before her, sprawling forward like a bramble patch with prizes full and juicy and ripe for her to choose and consume.

In reality Calista’s movements were erratic and furtive, her eyes lapine, darting, her hoodie woefully inadequate to answer to the rainstorm that cloaked the city. Water fell like a thick curtain all around her, and she told herself that was what made it difficult to divine more than blurry shapes of the people and things around her, rather than the film of the same that coated her eyes. Shoulders hunched, hands in pockets, hood drawn tight. A walking bullseye for the real wolves, truth be told.

Like a prey animal, she tended to act on instinct first. Thinking her actions through was unfamiliar, and she struggled with it. There was enough in her pocket for a bus ride, maybe. Or some food, maybe. Her phone still had some charge on it, probably. There was a number she could call, probably, that would lead her to a warm bed for the night. Maybe.

Royale was somewhere. They had fought. She still wasn’t entirely sure how she had successfully wrenched herself from him, disappearing down some rabbit hole and out into the night before he could abscond with her again. Dry laugh through wet lips, and then a stuttered apology as she bumped into someone passing her on the slick sidewalk. Pulling her hands from her pockets, she pushed slick blonde waves back from her face and wrapped her arms around herself. The insides of her shoes were wet. An aspirin-bitter voice in the back of her mind told her that he wouldn’t have let her go if he hadn’t wanted her to. Royale hated to let anything slip through his fingers, hated it, hated it, hated it…

She shuddered uncontrollably as thunder cracked overhead, illuminating her gangly form against the night-shrouded street for an instant, and that was all he needed. The vacuum pop that announced his presence was lost to the ambient noise so that he seemed to be before her in an instant, unheralded.

“No!” Raising her hands to push him away, to spring herself off of his solid form, she realized her mistake too late. His fingers closed around her wrists, his grip like death, hurting her, and the sounds of the storm fell away much more slowly than they teleported, so that even as the sudden bright light stung her eyes she could still hear thunder rolling in her ears.

“No,” she cried again. She flailed, but his hands on her forearms were vicelike. She threw her weight against him, knocking him backwards into the bare wall of the empty room, and that was enough to startle him into relinquishing his hold on her just enough to free her arms.

A lot of fucking good that did, since the room had no doors.

Despair welled in her and she began to cry, salt tears scalding hot against stinging cold skin. The betrayal of her own body against her made her more furious and she railed against him, her fists coming down hard against his chest as she pinned him against the wall, lank hair falling into her face.

“You can’t just disappear with me without my permission!” she screamed. It was a sentiment she had expressed before and to her ears it rang hollow in the room. Convulsions began to take her small form, her lungs spasming with hyperventilation. “You’re not allowed!” As though volume gave her power, as though she had any power to speak of… “You’re not allowed, you’re not allowed…” The words finally dissolved into water and she became unintelligible, throwing herself against him one final time. This time she stayed pressed against him, her arms raised, knuckles white, fists pressed on either side of her head, breath coming hard and fast.

Throughout the storm he had watched her in silence. Even when she raised her fists against him his hands stayed at his sides, fingers faintly curled but never tightening, his own eyes wide as hers flashed and spilled. At long last the thunder gave itself over to rainfall and the room fell quiet, the unsteady rhythm of his own breath audible alongside hers, the pounding of his heart audible, he hoped, only to him.

“Okay,” he said finally, his voice cracking. “Okay. Okay.” Gingerly, he put his arms around her quailing form. At first she stiffened but then she relaxed into him, giving herself over to the sobs that wracked her body. Swallowing thickly, he wound his fingers into the thick bands of wet hair that clung to the back of her neck, closing his eyes.

“I promise.”


End file.
